Channel | Digital

Improved customer service and Web site features would encourage more consumers to shop online, according to survey findings released by the e-commerce software company Allurent Inc.

Elise Neel has been appointed director of online measurement for the West Coast at the marketing research firm InsightExpress. Neel previously worked for Cars.com.

Google has started including content from YouTube in its video search results, integrating clips from the video-sharing site into Google Video search results for the first time since it acquired the company last November for $1.65 billion.

Comparison shopping engine ShopWiki has entered into a strategic partnership with fitness publication Men's Health to let readers use ShopWiki to search more than 180,000 online stores for the best prices on the top picks among the products listed in the Men's Health 2007 Tech Guide.

AOL has hired Ted Cahall, former executive vice president and chief operating officer of Classmates.com, to lead its platforms business unit as executive vice president.

Direct marketing firm Leapfrog Online announced Friday that it has acquired Pennsylvania-based Arrowhead Direct Marketing LLC.

The Mobile Marketing Association says it ended 2006 with a 150% increase in membership over 2005, including 30 new member companies that joined late in the year.

Second-quarter revenue in Microsoft's online services business was up 5% year over year, but revenue from search advertising made up only a "modest" part of that growth, the company said yesterday.

Alvion Inc., an e-commerce and data management firm, has been acquired by an investment group lead by Robert K. Sher, who was named CEO.

In an announcement that caught many search marketing advertisers and professionals by surprise, Yahoo! energized a conference call about its Q4 results yesterday by declaring that it will give Project Panama, its new search-ad platform, a full launch ahead of schedule.